Congrats to Marie Moore for winning the pendant with her guess of GREEN! Guess Denise Rimmer's favorite color and win this fairy pendant! Runner-ups will get 5x7 prints of the ladybug fairy. Post your guess in the comments section.

Many of us dream about becoming fairies while accepting that this will probably never happen. Now, with the help of artist Denise Rimmer, you can turn yourself into a fairy (or at least your portrait).

Steven (my husband) and I haven't taken a portrait in forever, for all the usual reasons. Mainly, we don't like the formal nature. However, creating a fairy portrait gave us a great excuse to get a natural and beautiful portrait.

We live in the US while Rimmer lives in the UK. However, Rimmer accepts international clients. For more information about getting a portrait, you should email fore...@googlemaill.com. Prices for fairy portraits start at GBP£85, or roughly USD$138. Your portrait comes with a free 11x14 print.

Making the Portrait

After I selected a dress fitting for a fairy, Steven and I headed to the Sarah P. Duke gardens for scenery, as we wanted a special background. However, Rimmer doesn't require a background. Typically, the client need only submit a photograph of her/himself and Rimmer will supply a background.

Next, we needed photographs of ourselves. We asked a bystander to take a photograph of us kissing. However, while we liked how Steven turned out, I didn't like how how I did. So, Steven took quite a few pictures of me until we found one we liked.

We emailed our photographs to Rimmer, explaining that we wanted to extract myself and Steven from the appropriate photographs, then superimpose us on our background.

Rimmer provided useful input about our photographs and our portrait throughout the process. We actually sent her two sets of photographs; the first time, we thought we'd taken good shots, but she explained that our faces were indistinct - so, we went back to the gardens. Rimmer later contacted us explaining that Steven's jeans and sneakers didn't match up with the portrait, so she was changing them. Needless to say, we were very excited about receiving our portrait.

We make a very cute fairy couple, wouldn't you agree? Everyone can agree, however, that Rimmer did an excellent job turning us into fairies. I particularly link the way she extended my dress - it's gorgeous!

Interview with Denise Rimmer

Whilst I was at university studying photography, two things happened. I met someone in retail who specialises in magical and spiritual items and although I'd always liked fairies, this opened my eyes to how beautiful they are. At the same time I became fascinated with the possibilities of digital photography. My photography was already based around nature and the art within it, so it just became a logical next step to experiment with these elements. What I found was something unique, natural, beautiful and very personal.

I am inspired by nature first and the countryside around me and next by the people I create the portraits for. Even if I do not meet my customer, there is an awful lot of contact through email or telephone and I can get feeling for someone's personality from their photograph and their ideas for their fairy portrait. To have an idea of my clients personality is essential to create a Forest Art Fairy Portrait.

Image © Denise Rimmer

I like many kinds of fairies but among my favourites are the the more wistful, dreamy fairies. However, the older, slightly moody fairy makes a striking image, especially in black & white!

I have now been creating my unique fairy portraits for about 5 years. I feel the longer I do this the more I have learnt, not just technically but creatively. I feel my images are evolving with time and with me.

Not at the moment. I kind of dawdled for a bit with the business side of things, so I'm really busy at the moment kind of re-launching my business, and it's working already! I do like to do some kind of promotion however, for my loyal customers, as obviously people change and my clients like to have new portraits created to reflect these changes.

Image © Denise Rimmer

Believe! You have to believe in yourself and your work. If you're not confident in what you're doing it shows in you work! To expect others to respect and enjoy your work you have to respect and enjoy it yourself. Not everyone will appreciate your style but that's life, we're all different!

I would just like to mention, that although there are other fairy photographers out there, Forest Art Fairy Portraits are completely unique. This is because, all the images in my portraits are photographed by me. I try to keep everything as real as possible, down to the wings, which are insect wings. All digital work is done by hand and time is taken to make sure a really personal and unique piece of artwork is created.

Official Site - WIP
http://forest-arts.com

Twitter
http://twitter.com/ForestArt

Fairy Day Special! Win a fairy pendant!

Guess Denise Rimmer's favorite color and win this fairy pendant! Post your guess in the comments section. Image and pendant by Rhiannon Strobel. Runner-ups will get 5x7 prints of the ladybug fairy. Congrats to Marie Moore for winning the pendant with her guess of GREEN!